The Setai is one of the best hotels in Miami, offering a striking but sober moot-lid design, exceptional service, large rooms, and three pools each a different temperature. The hotel is also in a prime beachside location, meaning a lot of Miami’s best restaurants are just half a block away. This makes up for the expensive but mediocre restaurants of the Setai itself.

Forbes has called the Setai one of “Sexiest Hotels in America” due to its “Art Deco fusion concept” design as well as its attentive and discreet service ethic. It features huge, luxurious rooms that are richly decorated with dark teak floors, a built-in couch, heavy brown Oriental rugs, and black granite soaking tub.

Guests can also enjoy the Setai’s spa that is Asian-themed and a recording studio that’s designed by Lenny Kravitz himself. The recording studio is located at the Art Deco building and has seen the likes of Jay-Z lay down tracks there. Finally, guests can also shop for jewelry at the Asprey jewelry boutique.

The rooms offer guests a 22-inch flat-screen TV, Illy espresso machines, Samsung sound machines, a stocked minibar and a bathroom that has a huge and austere rain shower featured floor-to-ceiling black tiles. The rooms are also generously proportioned considering that they start at 600 square feet, while the 45 suites in the residential tower range from 900 to 3,500 square feet.

The Setai offers possibly the most beautiful grounds in all of South Beach and there are three pools of varying temperatures. Guests have the option to swim in the 75 degrees pool, the 85 degrees pool or the 90 degrees pool. Aside from the three pools, the hotel also has a spacious gym that has a Pilates studio personal training sessions for guests to enjoy.

The Setai is located between the Bass Museum of Art and the Shore Club Hotel. The hotel’s beach is almost empty, thanks to the staff doing their best to keep non-guests off the beach. If they’re not keeping non-guests off, they’re doing their best to serve whatever it is that guests would need while lying on the teak lounge chairs covered in plush, slate-colored cushions enjoying the sun. Cocktails and snacks are usually delivered, as well as magazines, towels and even iPods.

As for food, the Setai’s restaurants provide the guests with some of the best designs in Miami as well as impressive food but overpriced. Guests can choose the Asian-influenced restaurant at the hotel or the Setai Grill that opened in 2012. Other options include the Pool and Beach Bar, and The Bar and The Courtyard. Outside the hotel, guests can opt to dine in a slew of restaurants such as the Nobu, the Ago, Bond St. Lounge, or the Sky Bar.

While the Setai offers great amenities, huge rooms, and three pools, it does have some minor inconveniences that guests have to deal with. Chief among them is the very expensive restaurants in the hotel, followed by small plasma TV, no iPod docks and an exterior that makes it look more like an office building than a hotel.

Despite the setbacks, the Setai is one of the best hotels in Miami. And if you’re planning to visit South Beach and want a private beach and lots of pampering, we suggest you check this hotel out.

Charlotte Hanson

Charlotte is an avid traveler who's visited 34 different countries staying in countless hotels during these trips. Her ability to seek out and find hotels that offers something unique and special is second to none. It was this, along with her keen insight into what excites people about staying in hotels, that lead her to joining the LeadingHotelsOnline.com team.